


Locked In

by CatelynJones



Series: The Avengers Need a Full-Time Shrink (Stand alone fics in same universe) [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Flashbacks, Hurt Bucky Barnes, Hurt/Comfort, It's an envenomation not a poisoning, M/M, Medical Inaccuracies, Medical Procedures, One Shot, Panic Attacks, Paralysis, Poisoning, Protective Clint Barton, Urination, technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 07:25:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13243374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatelynJones/pseuds/CatelynJones
Summary: They put a lot of faith in the serum to protect Bucky and Steve from poisons and physical damage. So when Bucky gets a dart in the arm, he doesn't give it a second thought.He definitely should have.Fics in this series are standalone





	Locked In

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [There Is No Shortage of Blood](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12692403) by [alby_mangroves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alby_mangroves/pseuds/alby_mangroves), [Dira Sudis (dsudis)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dsudis/pseuds/Dira%20Sudis). 



> TWs in this one for accidental non-con medical procedures (you'll get it when you get there), non-sexy bed wetting and paralysis. Which, if you are claustrophobic in the same was I am, is scary as fuuccckkk.
> 
> This fic is compliant with my other marvel fic, Closer to Fine and might become a series, but I really don't think I can commit myself to that. I can barely commit myself to going to work each day.
> 
> Aww fuck it, I'll link them all...

In hindsight, they should have been far more cautious. The Avengers probably put far too much stock in the super soldier serum, Steve and Bucky were able to brush most hits off, and they both felt the need to push through it wasn’t that simple. If you could still stand, you could fight, so to speak. So, Bucky couldn’t help but blame himself when he wound up in this particular predicament.

The fight had meant to be straightforward. One villain in the middle of Manhattan, trying to take over the world through a series of careful assassinations blah, blah, blah. She called herself Elapidae, and on the surface, she looked kinda dull. A strong snake theme, with skin-tight brown scaled lycra, was striking up close, but certainly not particularly flamboyant by Villain-of-the-Week standards. She was quiet and moved with a deadly grace that had even Natasha’s hairs standing on end.

She was lightning fast, and her primary weapon were small darts that fired from her wrist. They assumed, rightly so, that the darts would be venomous, so the Black Widow and Clint were immediately removed from the field. Ironman’s suit would protect him, the Hulk’s skin could deflect bullets, and the Cap and Soldier had the serum. The quartet took Elapidae down quickly; Captain America blocked numerous darts with his shield while Bucky did his best to dodge what came his way.

Elapidae was fast enough to flip away from repulsor blasts, and it ended up being the Winter Soldier’s weird hidden Russian ballet skills that finally took her down. She was bundled up and sent off to SHIELD, but not before she managed to ensure that two small darts make their way through the Winter Soldier’s tactical gear and lodge in his skin. Buck rolled his eyes and pulled them out, laughing with the team as they made their way back to base.

No one thought anything else about it as they showered and ate dinner, and bid farewell for the evening. Bucky couldn’t even find the dart marks when he got undressed for bed and didn’t give it a second thought. Bucky pulled Clint into his chest, and the two snuggled deeper into the overly soft mattress.

It was 2 am before Bucky thought something might be wrong. He woke up, aching. His tongue felt too big for his mouth, and his stomach was cramping badly. He tried to get out of bed to hurry to the bathroom, but his legs gave out from underneath him. The crash of metal on wood woke Clint up who proceeded to panic for 2 and a half seconds before falling back on his training.

He took in the pile of limbs that was his boyfriends before he began triaging, “Ok, psychological or physical?”

Bucky tried to speak, but he tongue wouldn’t work. Clint, never one to be dissuaded, switched to ASL, “ _Head, body?”_

Bucky’s fingers were clumsy, but he managed to make the sign for _body._

Clint nodded once before hitting the internal emergency button by the bedside. It would allow JARVIS to override their privacy protocols and begin monitoring their private rooms, “Clint, can I please call Dr Banner? James seems to be deteriorating swiftly.”

Clint internally thanked the AIs fast thinking, “Yes, dear god yes. Also get Steve in here to carry Bucky, he’s too heavy for me to move fast enough.”

It was a lifetime later when Steve burst through the door and scooped up the man that was his brother in all but blood. “Clint, what the hell happened?”

Clint wasted no time in running after his teammate, “I don’t know, he was fine when we went to bed, and then next thing I know, he’s falling out of bed. He can’t speak, can’t walk and his movements are uncoordinated.”

Steve nodded as he ran, literally bumping into Bruce as he made it to the medbay.

“Did Bucky get hit with one of the darts from earlier?”

Clint looked at Bruce, “yeah, he did, he got two in the arm. Do you think it’s the darts?”

Clint looked like he was panicking now, but Bruce didn’t seem to notice, “Those darts contained the equivalent of 1000 lethal doses of Pseudonaja textilis toxin. I think the clinical signs match up.” Bruce paused and looked at the ceiling, “JARVIS, wake Tony, he needs to find and get some antivenom as fast as humanly possible.”

“He’s already awake and searching. A hospital in New Mexico appears to have some, and he is currently en route.”

Bruce nodded, and Clint and Steve watched as the “Not that sort of doctor” Doctor Banner started hooking Bucky up to an array of different machines. Steve was the first one to break the tense silence, “What’s happening to him?”

Bruce bit his lip as he worked, “If I am right, and I am worried I am, then the there is a few different toxins floating around his system, one will slowly paralyse James, it starts with swallowing and legs, and then eventually will paralyse his respiratory muscles and will be unable to breathe for himself. Another will attack his ability to clot his blood, so be might bleed internally, and another toxin attacks the muscles themselves.” He turned to look at the most important people in Bucky’s life, “There isn’t a lot we can do at the moment except support Bucky. The toxin won’t last forever, and we should be able to support him until it wears off.”

Steve nodded, but Clint had questions, “Then what’s the point of the antivenom?”

Bruce nodded, “Think of the antivenom as a sponge. It can’t undo the damage already done, but it can bind up toxins floating around, stopping them from doing more damage. The faster we get it, the faster Bucky recovers.”

Clint looked over at his partner and nodded, “It’s going to be ok, yeah?”

Bruce paused, “You know I can never guarantee things, but I hope so. The faster Tony gets back, the more ok it will be.”

Clint closed his eyes and put more faith in Tony than he ever had before.

***

Bucky certainly hadn’t expected to be struck down by snake venom, but he also hadn’t planned to stay conscious through the whole thing. It was a thing of nightmares to feel your body shutting down, one muscle group at a time. It had started with his legs and mouth, but now Bucky couldn’t do so much as lift a finger. Actually, at this point, Bucky would settle for being able to fucking swallow. He was trapped in his body, the only thing left for him to control was his breathing.

They had taped his eyes shut once they figured out that the paralysis was stopping him from blinking. Bruce had explained to Clint that it was so his eyes didn’t dry out. Bucky didn’t think they realised he was awake. Easy thing to forget when he was utterly incapable of any response. He could feel pain, smell and hear, but movement was entirely out of the question. It was horrifyingly familiar to the feeling of being shut down for maintenance under the supervision of his handlers.

Bucky felt his heart rate quicken as he began to panic.

He was stuck here. Vulnerable. He had no idea where the others were, how long he had been like this or how long it would last. It was a living nightmare.

He managed to tamp down on the panic until he felt someone start to undress him. The Soldier forced himself to control his responses. If he showed signs of fear, he would be punished. However, he totally lost what little was left of his composure when they grabbed his length and started to handle it.

He was forced to lie still as someone pushed a tube into his urethra. The pain was blinding, and his responses slipped his control. He listened in alarm as the heart monitor began to betray his panic. He knew he was going to be punished when the hands stopped and he heard a person move closer to him. His fear increased along with his heart rate and the person quickly covered The Soldier's body and stepped away. There was movement in the corner of the room and The Soldier wished he could cock an ear to the sound.

“Doc, what is it?”

The Soldier knew that voice. But it shouldn’t be here. Not here in the grasp of the enemy.

Someone cleared their throat, “I thought his pain responses were also knocked out, it looks like I was wrong.”

The first voice came closer, “What the hell do you mean?”

“I mean I think he can still feel pain, I need to reassess how we approach this.”

The first speaker was angry now, “What the hell did you do Banner?”

_Banner…?_

A third person entered the room, his voice commanding and easily cutting through person number one’s anger, “Hawkeye, stand down. You can’t be here if you are going to escalate the situation. We are all stressed and worried, and Bruce is doing the best he can.”

The Soldier felt himself calm down as he shook himself from the memories of one of his many torture sessions faded and the events of the evening flooded back in.

Someone nearby, _Steve_ , his brain supplied, sighed. “Bruce, what are the chances of Buck being totally awake right now?”

Bucky picked up the faint sounds of someone scratching stubble, “It’s possible. It’s really possible. I didn’t consider it until now… _FUCK…_ ”

Steve clapped the doctor on what sounded like a shoulder, “This is new to all of us. You need to stay calm and deal with the guilt later. It won't help Buck no. What can we do for him?”

Bruce took a deep and steadying breath, “We’ll some electrodes on his head and monitor his responses…” The man, _Bruce,_ took Bucky’s hand, “Bucky, if you can hear me, you are safe, and I’m sorry. You are still in the tower, and all the Avengers except Tony are here protecting you. Clint is worried but safe. I wish I could give you something for pain, but you burn through drugs too fast for things to do much of anything.” He squeezed his hand, “We are going to look after you and you are _safe_. Ok?”

Buck wished he could take a deep breath; he hadn’t been recaptured, his team was protecting him. He was safe.

Bruce kept hold of his hand and continued, “We’ve got you on fluids Bucky, to help protect your kidneys, but it means you are going to get a full bladder quickly. We don’t know if you can urinate at the moment. If you can’t, we will have to pass a tube into your bladder, so you don’t develop other issues. We’re going to put some electrode on your head and come up with a way for you to think to signal yes and no until you can move again. We will make sure you are ok.”

Bucky allowed his mind to settle and listened in satisfaction as his heart rate slowed.

A second person, _Steve_ , took his other hand, “I will stay here with you until you feel safe ok? 'Till the end of the line.”

If he could have, Bucky would have smiled. It was just so Steve.

***

Time passed in a blur, there was nothing to see and very little change, but at least now he had a way of answering questions. The electrodes on his head picked up activity in different parts of his brain. Thinking about the taste of onions was code for no, the feel of leather was yes. The system was simple but allowed him to at least answer Bruce’s yes/no questions.

Clint came back at some point and crawled into the bed with Bucky, curling around his body in a comforting weight. He was still there when Tony finally returned with the antivenom, though they told him it had been less than two hours, it felt like it had been a lifetime.

Bruce said that at least it shouldn’t get any worse, but that the recovery would still take time. Clint was there always, reassuring him that he was safe, still with the Avengers, still loved. It was the only thing stopping Bucky from slipping back into the panic of his previous headspace.

He was on the edge of panic until Clint began to binge-watch something on Netflix It was so unlike anything Hydra had ever done to him that it was a constant reassurance that he was safe.

That and the Shadowhunter’s series that had not been released until after he joined the Avengers. Not a memory, it was now.

Clint narrated the show with colourful descriptions of the onscreen action and scathing analysis of the fighting and shooting technique of the main characters. Faking that kind of sass was impossible. It only came from his idiot Hawk.

“Oh god, this is just fucking awful, would you look at that?! Look at that redraw speed. Fucking slow. If this kid were actually fighting for his life, he’d be so dead by now.”

The chuckle that bubbled up Bucky’s throat surprised him as much as it surprised Clint.

The sound od the TV cut out suddenly, “Buck, did you just laugh? Man, please tell me you laughed. That means you are coming out of it and I need you to get better ok?”

Bucky focussed all of his energy and managed to lift a finger. The excitement of the little improvements was quickly overshadowed by the embarrassment and relief of him pissing himself.

Clint jumped back off the bed and called for Bruce. Bucky just revelled in the feeling of not have an exploding bladder. There was no way he was letting Bruce put a catheter in him. That only brought back too many horrid memories.

Bruce came in quickly, took stock of the situation and made a small “whooping” noise. “Clint! This is great! Movement is returning, and he can urinate on his own, some vocalisations, this is perfect.”

It was another hour of tests, but Bucky knew that he could feel his control returning.

The serum was finally doing its job, and the venom was wearing off.

Bucky breathed a sigh of relief when they took the tape off his eyes, and he found he could blink again. They had darkened the room to allow him to readjust, and Bucky rolled his eyes around the room just for the joy of being able to do it.

He could finally feel himself swallowing around the tube Bruce put into his stomach to feed his super soldier metabolism, and his fingers and toes were twitching.

It was only a short time later that Bucky was sitting up, weak arms wrapped around Clint and pressing a kiss to his forehead. Clint nuzzled into his partner’s chest, “Please never do that again. I can’t deal with watching that again.”

Bucky chuckled, his voice returning, but rough, “Not planning on it any time soon. That was literally worse than some of my nightmares.”

Clint’s arms tightened, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Ha, no. No, I do not. But we will because that’s the deal now. We talk about these things.”

Clint groaned, “You get trapped in your own body, have a horrific and traumatic flashback, and you use it as a platform to talk to me about _my_ feelings. You, James Barnes, are a special human being.”

Bucky smiled, “Well technically, you could consider me part cyborg.” He slowly lifted his hand and cupped the back of Clint’s head, “Having issues and trauma doesn’t make me weak love.”

“Of course it doesn’t! What happened to you was some truly horrifying shit, and you are so fucking strong.”

Still smiling, Bucky moved back to look his partner in the eye, “So why do I get to have trauma and you don’t?”

“Goddamn, you Barnes. You suck. Fine. We will talk, but for now, let’s just rest and be glad you are alive ok?”

Chuckling, Bucky leaned back and pulled Clint with him, “Yeah, ok. I’ll let us off the hook. For now.”

He felt Clint smile against his neck and let his eyes slide shut and drift off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> This work is inspired by reading the absolutely fantastic "There is no shortage of blood" by alby_mangroves and Dira Sudis, while camped out on call at the clinic with a cat suffering from a snake bite and the resulting weird ass dream I had while napping on a surgical table between patient checks.
> 
> Once I had the idea in my head it wrote itself. It was also 3am and I had worked a 36hr shift, so please excuse any issues
> 
> I decided to start a Patreon! You can find it [here](https://www.patreon.com/user/catelynjones). Honestly, check the page out, but if you can't afford the things, DON'T! SPend your money on psych appts, or dog food or petrol or whatever. But if you DO have some cash to spare, think about throwing it my way? I want to spend more time writing, but that means I need to be able to justify doing it instead of working.
> 
> Anyway, as usual, if you like my stuff consider subscribing to my profile, leaving a comment or just sending the link to a friend. Means a lot to me.


End file.
